St. Columba, patron saint of Ireland, Derry, Scotland, bookbinders, poets, and protection against floods. Born in the year 521, his name means 'dove' so he is often depicted with one, together with a book in hand. An evangelist missionary, he founded the abbey on the Isle of Iona - somewhere I've always wanted to visit.
Time was spent in copying manuscripts; fasting; praying all night; acts of great kindness; healing diseases; angelic visions; prophetic revelations (simultaneous present & future), exorcising tormenting spirits, and sleeping on a rock with a stone pillow.
It is said he came across some men burying their friend who had been killed by a ferocious water creature.
Columba ordered one of his men to dive into the loch to investigate, and nearly met with the same terrifying fate - until Columba's words drove back the beast to the depths from which it had come in Loch Ness.
As a poet I was interested to learn he has 2 poems / hymns ascribed to him, which I'd like to check out further. One of them, 'Adiutor Laborantium' is an 'abercederian' based on the Latin alphabet; I'm always interested in forms of poetry.
It's great that his work survives to this day, and, of course, a lifetime of prayers will have sent out ripples of influence across miles & millennia.
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